Top 50 Digital Characters for 2021

Top 50 Digital Characters for 2021

Incredible character designs are uploaded to The Rookies every day. They range from 2D sketches of fantasy character, to detailed 3D digital doubles, and a little bit in-between

Incredible character designs are uploaded to The Rookies every day. They range from 2D sketches of fantasy character, to detailed 3D digital doubles, and a little bit in-between. One thing they have in common is they are stunning pieces of artwork and need to be celebrated. Scroll down to take a quick dive into the Top 50 Digital Characters for 2021 as voted with high-fives, by our members.


50: The Piano Man as 3D Art

Created by: Michele Boueri
Member Level: player

This artwork is the final project for my foundation term at Think Tank Online. The project was to choose a 2D concept and recreate it in 3D. I chose this concept ' The Piano Man' by Noor Sofi for its mood and atmosphere, I hope I was able to recreate it. In this project I used Maya for modeling, Mudbox for sculpting an

View Full Project

49: CHARACTER DESIGN - DIAVOLA

Created by: Ricardo Calvo
Member Level: player

Character design made in photoshop.

View Full Project

48: Astronaut on the moon - CV skills championship

Created by: Saray Leal García
Member Level: debut

This is my experience during the CV Skills Championship!

View Full Project

47: Royal Guard of the Joseon Dynasty

Created by: Sain-Sain Thao
Member Level: player

Here is my first real-time character done for my 6-weeks intermediate final project at Think Tank. Based on the beautiful concept by Choong Yeol Lee. Hope you'll enjoy it!

View Full Project

46: Grandpa

Created by: David Kwahk
Member Level: contender

Project done in Tran Ma's Texturing & Shading 4 class at Gnomon. Based off a concept by Liang Mark, I haven't finished recreating the whole piece but I'm calling it done for now so I can focus on other projects before graduation. Tran was an amazing instructor and I learned so much in her class.

View Full Project

45: The Strongest Champion

Created by: Alsu Rakhimova
Member Level: player

My six-week final project for Intermediate term at Think Tank Training Centre. This character is based on a powerful concept by Un Lee - "The Strongest Champion"

View Full Project

44: Demon Fire

Created by: Albert Julià Gutiérrez
Member Level: player

This is a demon I made and painted in Zbrush, its the first paint job i made in Zbrush and was relly fun to make.

View Full Project

43: Always A Captain

Created by: Uday Kampani
Member Level: player

Character created for the advanced term at Think Tank Online. Concept by Eve Ventrue. Environment Supervisor - Nikhil Kedige: https://www.artstation.com/nikhilkedige Prop Artist - Rohan Nanjappa: https://www.artstation.com/nanjapparohan Huge thanks to my colleagues and supervisor for all the support!

View Full Project

42: Leo

Created by: Marcos Martinez Marco
Member Level: contender

This is Leo, the cartoon character I made at Animum3D School. Concept by Luigi Lucarelli

View Full Project

41: Nightmare Lab: Character Designs

Created by: Dinh Bui
Member Level: player

Character designs for my game, Nightmare Lab, a cool game i worked on for my 2nd trimester student project.

View Full Project

40: Digi Double

Created by: Séréna Longo
Member Level: player

I'm happy to share with you my last 3D school project! The modeling is based on photogrammetry, this project was a good way to discover the XYZ workflow. I had a lot of fun with the grooming part Thanks for watching !

View Full Project

39: SANGORO AND ZOROJURO

Created by: Ricardo Calvo
Member Level: player

Illustration based on a "One Piece" scene, Sanji and Zoro in Wano saving Toko.

View Full Project

38: Thanatos - Fanart

Created by: Raphaël Banget-Mossaz
Member Level: player

This is the final project of my third year of school at New3dge. I chose to make a character I like a lot from the great game Hades. I used the concepts of Jen Zee and the 3D models of Paige Carter as references for my work.

View Full Project

37: Demon Game Ready

Created by: Adrián Rojas
Member Level: debut

I can only say that I am delighted with the result. After several months of work and even more of dreaming about this moment, I have managed to create my first character totally Game Ready. I hope you like it.

View Full Project

36: RAT The BIG (Snoop Dogg) - Think Tank Mentorship Project

Created by: Tommaso Noseda
Member Level: player

Real-Time Character created for my mentorship at Think Tank Training Centre Online. Huge thanks to my Mentor, Saurabh Jethani. For my last project i wanted to attempt a likeness of Snoop Dogg, inspired by the amazing concept of Yongbin Lee / dylan: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/

View Full Project

35: Project Cyborg

Created by: Charalampos Lampros
Member Level: contender

This cyborg is the last character that i made for my college. It was inspired by the movies Alita: The Battle Angel and Ghost in The Shell.

View Full Project

34: Practice Sculpt #2

Created by: Uday Kampani
Member Level: player

Hey everyone, here's another speed sculpt. Concept by Maxim Verehin. Artstation: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/d8DQ6w

View Full Project

33: Face Test

Created by: Clemens Niklos
Member Level: player

just testing out a few blendshapes for this character. Dont have the time to finish the full char right now, but please do let me know what you think of it so far^^

View Full Project

32: Johnny Silverhand - Cyberpunk 2077 Fanart

Created by: Tristan McGuire
Member Level: rookie

University final major project - Realtime fanart of Johnny Silverhand (Keanu Reeves) from Cyberpunk 2077.

View Full Project

31: Lief the young druid

Created by: Natalia de Grado
Member Level: player

Hi! this illustration it's part of my final proyect for class.

View Full Project

30: NYMPH

Created by: Ricardo Calvo
Member Level: player

Illustration made in Photoshop.

View Full Project

29: HALLOWEEN SPEED PAINTING

Created by: Ricardo Calvo
Member Level: player

Speed Painting made in Photoshop.

View Full Project

28: Belle- The Past ni the Future

Created by: Ana Duran
Member Level: player

Belle is one of the characters ni a new project

View Full Project

27: Kai'Sa - Daughter of the Void (fanart)

Created by: Xenia Sunye (Makiblue)
Member Level: contender

Kai'sa fanart fro League of Legends

View Full Project

26: Cannibals - 1

Created by: Antonio Rosiello
Member Level: contender

I always loved Tooth Wu's style and I decided to translate his concept in 3D and experiment more with hand painted syle and stylized anatomy.

View Full Project

25: Luna Lovegood

Created by: Ambre Boué
Member Level: rookie

Concept by Tena Galovic

View Full Project

24: ~Marie Belrose - Character Design~

Created by: Rebeca Pacheco
Member Level: player

Concept art of my original character named Marie. This is her first design that includes a final illustration and its process, expressions sheet, cloth tests and turn around (for 3D model).

View Full Project

23: Swamp Monster!

Created by: Oliver Ormar Ingvarsson
Member Level: debut

Concept by: Thibaud Pourplanche My Foundation Final Projcet at Think Tank Online. Really fun projcet to work on and learned a lot during the process. My first character I work on. (https://www.artstation.com/artwork/8ey5Ox)

View Full Project

22: Darth Maul

Created by: Guilherme Marques
Member Level: player

I always desire to do my own Darth Maul. So, I decided to take his sculpt up for a bit. Therefore, this is the final result. Hope you like it. follow me on Instagram to know further about the process and more. @glhrmarques

View Full Project

21: The nameless Hitman

Created by: Jaydo de Ruijter
Member Level: player

An 8 week project I worked on last year. Creating a game ready character. https://www.artstation.com/artwork/oA3e9L

View Full Project

20: Arrogant centurion 3D version

Created by: Daniel Martinez
Member Level: contender

This is a 3D version of the concept character by Aifan IF (if_aifan.artstation.com). In this project I wanted to make the whole process of the production of a character from the moment the design is given to a modeler.

View Full Project

19: A warm moment

Created by: Gia Han Lam
Member Level: player

No Face enjoying a peaceful and warm moment. Starting 2021 with my first finished project, a Spirited Away scene! Everything was either modeled or sculpted by me in Zbrush and 3DSmax, retopo'ed in Maya en textured in Substance painter and Quixel Mixer. Artstation: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/L3BGLl

View Full Project

18: Project Divjak | 1937

Created by: Leonardo Amico
Member Level: player

Project Divjak | 1937 was my first time sculpting and texturing a human bust, I was responsable for all aspects. This was also my final project for the Intermediate Term at Think TankTraining Centre.

View Full Project

17: Mollymauk Tealeaf

Created by: Tristan McGuire
Member Level: rookie

Personal project - Realtime fanart of Mollymauk from Critical Role.

View Full Project

16: Edward - Character look dev

Created by: Swann VALENZA
Member Level: player

This is Edward, the main character of the short film I'm currently working on alone. This are only wips and look dev, but I'm very proud of the result ! Hope you like it !

View Full Project

15: UNREAL ENGINE Dwarf Game Character

Created by: Tamer Yagli
Member Level: contender

Dwarf Warrior game character running realtime in Unreal Engine 4

View Full Project

14: CHARACTER DESIGN - OGRE 01

Created by: Ricardo Calvo
Member Level: player

Character design made in photoshop.

View Full Project

13: THANOS Stylized

Created by: Florian Petiteau
Member Level: rookie

Thanos is back! I attempted to bring the Titan back in a stylized version in less than a week. I was able to experiment a little more with Mudbox sculpting and test new ways of working my surfacing with Renderman. Hope you liked it!

View Full Project

12: Ekko, the boy who shattered time

Created by: Juan Pablo Torres
Member Level: player

Fanart of the League of Legends character Ekko, made for my advanced Characters for film term, at Think Tank Online.

View Full Project

11: Ölvnir "The Ogre"

Created by: Alexander Zlotin
Member Level: contender

I am grateful to Think Tank Training Center for being the awesome school that it is, where I could have done this mentorship project. I would like to thank my mentor Marco Menco who taught me so much. Also thanks to Nicolas Niño who helped me a lot during the processes. Based on Ölvnir "The Ogre" by Miguel Iglesias.

View Full Project

10: Loki (Tom Hiddleston)

Created by: Carlos Belmonte Arráez
Member Level: player

This is the model I've been working during the last three weeks after watching the awesome LOKI series.

View Full Project

9: Dream

Created by: Houra Ershad
Member Level: contender

Here's my advanced term final project for Think tank online program, a likeness of actress Golshifteh Farahani. Her love for music, her country and its culture was my source of inspiration for the concept. Huge thanks to my supervisor Raffael Frank my family and friends, and all the supportive people in Think tank.

View Full Project

8: Theurgy

Created by: Elena Giuliani
Member Level: player

This is my Foundation final project Theurgy, done at Think Tank Training Centre and based on the amazing homonym concept made by Zeen Chin

View Full Project

7: The Flamingo Witch - 3D Art

Created by: Belén Amat
Member Level: player

Project in which I had to create a render that ressembled as close as possible a concept art of our choice. I chose N. Kim's illustration specially because it had various elements that could make me test and improve my skills, including being able to get the mood of the concept.

View Full Project

6: The Holow Knight

Created by: Alejandro Díaz Magán
Member Level: contender

The Hollow Knight - fanart I did as a quick practice on working from a reference. Based on an illustration by the amazing Tyler Ellis

View Full Project

5: The Princess of Ambrosia

Created by: Gia Han Lam
Member Level: player

A project I made earlier this year for the Grads in Games Challenge in the Character Art category :) I was lucky enough to end up as the winner for the Rising Star competition! We had to create a game ready character within a month, which was a great learning experience and challenge! Based on Airi Pan's concept :)

View Full Project

4: DWARF

Created by: Marina Llorente
Member Level: contender

This is the project I've been working on during the past month, based on the concept of the amazing Even Mehl Amundsen.

View Full Project

3: the Elder

Created by: Khoi Nguyen
Member Level: contender

Hey guys, here's my lastest work - the elder. It's inspired by lovely old ladies from Yunnan. All the details was hand sculpted in Zbrush following Kris Costa method, texturing with Substance Painter and xgen for hair, Maya Arnold renderer. Cheer!

View Full Project

2: Eilesti - The Local Druid

Created by: Yano Claeys
Member Level: contender

I made this character for the grads in games challenge! Since this was my first time doing the full character workflow I learned a lot while making this. original concept made by Alessandro Rossi

View Full Project

1: Holy Man

Created by: Franziska Milius
Member Level: player

Hi everyone, this character is the first project I created as part of my Demo Reel. Sculpted and textured in ZBrush and rendered with Arnold.

View Full Project